Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!petunia!news
From: jdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: "software engineering" vs. "programming"
Keywords: Craftsman
Message-ID: <2623668b.23b3@petunia.CalPoly.EDU>
Date: 11 Apr 90 17:16:59 GMT
References: <4578@pegasus.ATT.COM> <12454@goofy.megatest.UUCP> <1990Apr10.201117.9557@wilbur.uucp>
Organization: Cal Poly State Univ,CSC Dept,San Luis Obispo,CA 93407
Lines: 37


In article <1990Apr10.201117.9557@wilbur.uucp> scott@wilbur.UUCP (Scott Beckstead) writes:
>
>  Some how I alwys prefered the title Craftsman.  However in the ever present
>upity world of business this is no longer considered professional enough.  

Yay!! Somebody that understands.  A few weeks ago I posted a similar sentiment
that somehow got cross-posted to unix.wizards, and it raised all kinds of argument
for a week or two over there.

I am taking a course now in Software Engineering, and our professor loves to
tell stories about the problems that have come from faulty software.  The more
you work, the more you realize the importance of doing a craftsman job.

>I think however that the title I have is the best all around cop out and that
>is Project Engineer.  could be hardware or software either way it says
>engineer on my label.  In my eyes I am a craftsman with a whole world full of
>tools and I use and discard them as the situation requires.  The key is
>knowing what to throw away and when.  I almost never argue engineering
>religion (ie language preference) with anyone.  I have been sneered at for 
>learning FORTH and PASCAL and even LISP but they have all gotten me a job and
>a good deal of respect with or with out a fancy title.  If you are good at
>something do it and don't stop to try and tell the naked savages that the 
>language the are using is obviously wrong or whatever they'll find it out 
>and get the job done despite what you tell them.  And yes I know punctuation
>is a tool I seem to have discarded.  Thanks for listening

I am relatively new to the net, and I have to admit I sometimes give in to the
temptation of arguing about such "issues".

While we are on the subject, I just have come to understand the meaning of
program testing.  A program is fully tested when you can't delete any of the
source code, compile it, and still have it pass your tests.
--
John Dudeck                           "You want to read the code closely..." 
jdudeck@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu             -- C. Staley, in OS course, teaching 
ESL: 62013975 Tel: 805-545-9549          Tanenbaum's MINIX operating system.